The Communion Of Saints

(click on the above player to play the discussion or download it here: Mp3 File )

I was a guest on BBC Radio Scotland’s Sunday Morning with Richard Holloway program, along with Alastair McIntosh. We discussed men’s spirituality and male isolation.

My interest in men’s work is rooted in my lived experience as a man. An early interest in the mythopoetic men’s movement led me to become involved in men’s rites of passage, and an ongoing involvement in Scottish residential men’s groups. I have come to have a fairly gender-critical view, rejecting essentialist perspectives on gender, but recognising masculinity as a way of being in the world.

In this conversation, Alastair and I discuss with Richard:

Why more men are facing isolation in old age

Inward and outward life of men

The role of work in male identity

Post-industrial poverty and the ‘Glasgow Effect’

Scottish men’s reluctance to discuss emotions

Nature vs nurture in Papua New Guinea and the Isle of Lewis

Eldership and the value of older men

Women’s culture in older life

Men’s rites of passage and embodied spirituality

The difference between solitude and loneliness

Access to nature and ecopsychology for urban men

Care for older men within churches

Moving spiritually into the heart in later stages of life

Hyperstimulation and social media

Old age as a time to ‘make your soul’ and die in peace

The Galgael Trust, connecting with natural materials and working with hands

We often hear how loneliness is a common problem amongst older people, but it seems to be on the increase particularly with men. Luke Devlin, Executive Director of the Centre for Human Ecology and Alastair McIntosh, writer, campaigning academic, and board member of Galgael join Richard to discuss some of the causes and explore some imaginative community initiatives which might help.

Full credit for the material is attributed to the copyright owner, BBC Scotland. I host it here as fair use for archival and educational purposes as the broadcast is no longer hosted on the BBC iPlayer.